One Stormy Day
by hibari heza
Summary: It's a beautiful day out; the clouds are nice and dark, the lightning's flashing ominously, but why isn't Bulma enjoying it? Perhaps because she's not conscious...
1. Rainy Day Blues

One Stormy Day  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Rainy Day Blues  
  
Disclaimer: As always, I do not own DBZ or any of its characters. I would love to though so if anyone knows some way that that could be arranged….just let me know. ^_~  
  
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The rain poured down outside her window in a solid sheet of water. It turned the roads slick and cars zoomed through large puddles, causing waves of muddy water to fly into the air. The young woman sitting behind the wheel of what would have been a shiny, brand new looking car if the sun was shinning, hardly noticed.  
  
The view outside her windshield was blurred by more than the rain as streams of tears ran down her pale cheeks, first pooling in her eyes and making the weather's attempt at ruining her vision seem superfluous. The day had started out mundane enough for her, but it was soon evident that this day was not going to be her best.  
  
The engine of her car sounded loudly in the silence; an ominous crash of thunder was drowned out by the vehicle.  
  
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The headlights flashed over the edge, bringing the drivers' attention to pieces of glass and twisted metal caught against the broken railing. Walking slowly down the slippery and treacherous ledge, he shined his flashlight along the dripping brush, looking for any bodies thrown from the crash. He was halfway down the cliff face, digging his boots into the muck for extra balance, when he first heard the far off screams of the sirens. The foot of ground that he had gained by the time that the emergency vehicles reached the ledge had given him nothing more than a crumpled bumper hanging off the branch of a tree.  
  
Daniel finally reached the floor of the canyon and cast about with his light. It was worse down here than on the side of the cliff, with his feet sinking into the mud. The water was falling down, rising slowly above the small brush along the bottom. With the torrent of rain still pouring from the sky, the water would reach knee level probably before he got out of there. He could faintly hear the shouts of the officers and paramedics rushing as quickly as they could down the slope. He tuned them out as he followed the pieces of damaged metal to the hulk of what must have once been a gorgeous car.  
  
The wreck was lying on its side, the passenger door missing, and a tree limb stuck through the shattered windshield. Daniel climbed as quickly as he could up the side of the car to look through the passenger side. Lightning flashed behind him, throwing the interior of the car into light before he could even shine his flashlight within.  
  
Once he fastened his light on the slumped figure that the lightning had revealed to him he signaled the paramedics. He stood staring into the car, looking for some sign that the young woman was still alive. A tiny rise and fall of her chest assured him that, for the moment at least, she was alive. His quick sweep of the area revealed no other bodies and he felt relatively certain that she had been alone. The rescuers were finally drawing upon the ruined car and so Daniel backtracked a little a ways to give them room. He was anxious to know how the young woman faired, since he had witnessed her crash through the railing.  
  
The paramedics worked quickly, climbing carefully inside the car and pulling the woman out. Her neck was already strapped into a protective brace and the paramedics strapped her down on a board so that they could move her up the hill. As the paramedics carried her past him the left side of her face came into view for the first time. Bloody water ran down her face mingling with the blood still seeping from the jagged gash that ran from her jaw to her chin. Her hair was plastered to her head with the rain and matted with dry blood, although more blood welled out of the cut that slashed across her temple.  
  
The blood made such a ghastly contrast to the woman's pale beauty that Daniel felt physically ill just seeing her. She was really going to hurt when she woke up. He started to follow the stretcher and paramedics but was hailed by an officer. As the only witness to the woman's plunge over the side, it was up to him to describe what had happened.  
  
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He slammed the door to the house open and strode quickly into the kitchen. No one was there. A quick search of the rest of the house showed that no one was anywhere to be found. How like the annoying woman to be missing just as soon as he needed her, although he thought that 'need' was a rather dubious word to use. After all, her cooking could poison a cockroach. Still, he was hungry and he expected his meal to be there when he wanted it.  
  
He would have gone over to the main complex to join her parents meal but he vaguely remembered the woman mentioning tonight being a 'special occasion' and that her parents would be out. Come to think of it, she might have told him that she would be out as well.  
  
"But she said she'd be back in time to make my dinner. Damn that woman! She needs to have a watch taped to her wrist."  
  
Once he realized that the only way he would be eating would be to fix something for himself Vegeta yanked the door of the refrigerator open, accidentally taking it off its hinges in the process, and started grabbing food. He hated making food for himself, it was a waist of time he could spend training, which is why he expected the damn woman to make his meals for him. But did she consider that? No, she was off gallivanting with that idiot of hers, never stopping to think about him and his meals.  
  
Once he finished his food he stormed back to his training, immersing himself in his workout so that he could forget his anger at the forgetful, worthless human girl.  
  
It was several hours later that he came out of the GR again, this time to take a quick shower and grab his few hours of sleep. The woman was probably long since home and in bed, where she would sleep until far later than he thought should be necessary for a creature that did no actual hard work all day long. As he walked past her room to his own something made him pause. Either the woman had stopped breathing in her sleep or she wasn't in there. The first would be a great inconvenience to him, since he would have to start pestering her father to repair his training equipment if she died and the second one…..worried him slightly…well, maybe not worried, just cause some slight concern, since she had said she would be home hours ago.  
  
The door creaked slightly as he opened it, slipping into the darkened room with no other noise. He didn't want the woman to wake up and question why he was in there. But even inside he couldn't hear any sound of breathing coming from where he knew the bed was located. Unless he had lost his hearing, which was proved impossible by his ability to hear her creaky door, then the woman was simply not in her room. He flared his ki slightly, allowing a tiny bit of light to brighten the room enough to look around. Amazingly enough the room wasn't incredibly messy, which is how he knew she usually left it. The only room she bothered to keep spotless was her lab and when he asked her why that was she had explained that her experiments required her to take precautions with them. At that point he had tuned out but he still remembered her rambling on about things catching fire and blowing up.  
  
So, the woman had decided to spend the night at her idiot's place. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, it was just that when she said she was going to be some where, she was there, even if she usually arrived late.  
  
He supposed he could have gone to her parents and ask if she had called…but that would make it seem like he cared about the woman and her ditzy mother already thought that they had a 'thing' for each other. He didn't want to encourage the blond woman's delusions on that point.  
  
Vegeta retreated from the room quickly and dashed into his, taking his shower and dressing as fast as he could, which was, of course, very fast. He walked back down the stairs and sat down on the couch, facing the door, his arms crossed and his perpetual scowl splayed across his face. As soon as the woman came in he would make sure she knew he was not pleased with her. She wouldn't forget to make him his food again if he had anything to say about it. Which was, again, dubious. The woman seemed to enjoy disregarding his orders to her and pissing him off.  
  
Sometime around two in the morning; he dimly remembered hearing the large grandfather clock that stood against the wall behind him, chiming; he drifted off to sleep. Before he even knew it he heard a high-pitched giggle right next to his ear. He jumped up from the couch and glared at the blond woman standing in front of him.  
  
"What is it?!"  
  
"Oh Vegeta dear, I'm sorry, you just looked so cute asleep like that. I was going to call Bulma down and get her to agree with me but I can't seem to find her. Do you know where she is?"  
  
Vegeta snorted and turned his back on the older woman.  
  
"How should I know? I don't keep tabs on that woman. If you want to know where she is then build a lojak in her ass."  
  
The blond woman's eyes widened at that, a feet Vegeta had never managed to achieve before and he was shocked. The woman was oblivious as a brick wall and as dense, he didn't think anything anyone said could ever get through that thick mass she called a brain enough to startle her.  
  
"Vegeta, now that's not nice. Now, I wonder where she could be. She went out with Yamcha last night but she was supposed to be back and she didn't leave a message saying she would be gone. Did she tell you anything when she came home to make your dinner?"  
  
"The woman never showed up last night."  
  
"Oh Vegeta!"  
  
Vegeta winced at the high squeal that the woman let out of her mouth. He hated being around her, he risked damage to his ear drums every time he went near her.  
  
"You poor thing! You didn't get any dinner last night? I'll go into the kitchen right now and make more food. You must be starving!"  
  
Vegeta blinked in surprise after the woman as she walked out of the room. She thought he hadn't eaten? She thought he couldn't fend for himself if she or her daughter weren't home. That aggravated him, and he would have said something about it but the prospect of a lot of food made him keep his mouth shut. He could just say something after he ate.  
  
He stood staring at the living room for a few more minutes. He knew that the woman couldn't have come home last night, since her entry would have awoken him. Besides which, if she had come home that late then she would still be in her bed sleeping until the afternoon. Something must have happened to her if she hadn't even contacted her parents, but he couldn't suggest that to anyone, they would think he was worried about the woman, which he wasn't. He didn't worry about anyone, because he didn't care about anyone. He just wondered what was keeping her and what trouble she could have gotten herself into this time.  
  
She probably had just gone to her idiot's and forgotten the time. She was probably curled up in bed with the moron even as he stood their worr…wondering about her. Vegeta just shook his head and walked into the kitchen. Dr. Briefs was sitting at the table, watching as his wife stood at the stove, a frying pan in one hand and the spatula in the other.  
  
"Oh, well, I just thought that maybe she was there. When did she leave? That soon? No, she hasn't been home that we can tell. Vegeta says she didn't come home at all last night. It's not like her at all not to call us, or to just disappear like this."  
  
The blond was talking away on the phone thing, which was stuck between her bent head and shoulder. Apparently the idiot didn't know where she was either.  
  
"Did something happen last night Yamcha? I mean, it's just not like her! Oh! That's horrible! Well, if you hear about her let us know. You will? Thank you dear. Yes, we'll see you in a while. Ja."  
  
Vegeta leaned against the doorframe, his brow furrowed and a low growl emanating from his throat. The idiot was going to be coming over, and what was worse the idiot woman had gotten herself lost or some such thing. Now he'd have to depend on the father to fix his training equipment until the woman could be found, and it always took the father a long time to fix his things.  
  
"What did Yamcha say dear?"  
  
Mrs. Briefs didn't turn to look at her husband as she answered, but Vegeta could hear her sniffling so he assumed that she had started crying.  
  
"She left at six last night. She was heading straight home, or so he thought. She should have been back long before we came home and she hasn't been here all night. Yamcha is going to call the others and ask them to keep an eye out for her. I can't understand it."  
  
Deciding that that her not understanding something wasn't an uncommon thing didn't make him feel any better, since he didn't understand it either. If the woman hadn't been at her 'boyfriends' then where was she?  
  
"That's it. I'm calling the police. We'll have them look for her as well."  
  
"Oh! You don't think she was kidnapped do you?"  
  
Dr. briefs stood and wrapped his arms around his wife, letting her cry into his shoulder. The mushiness made Vegeta slightly sick, but he hadn't eaten yet and there was still more to be found out about this situation, so he couldn't retreat from the room.  
  
"No dear, but if she was…we'll get her back."  
  
"But if she wasn't kidnapped….then…."  
  
The air headed woman started crying again, in greater force now and clung to her husband. It took him several minutes to understand why she began crying like that but the realization didn't take long to hit him. The woman's mother assumed that the woman had been in some sort of accident. 'She might even be thinking that the woman is dead.'  
  
Vegeta strode from the room, leaving the two parents to their grief and their search plans. He had other things to do.  
  
The food on the stove began to burn as the two occupants of the kitchen proceeded to ignore it and the food on the table, which was miraculously still there, completely untouched and growing colder by the minute.  
  
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Vegeta kept his arms crossed as he floated in the air, listening into the conversation of the other fighters. Everyone had been gathered quickly by the idiot and now they floated along discussing the best way to go about finding the woman. He had been invited to the discussion by his rival, who had proclaimed to everyone when they saw him and objected, that 'anyone can be helpful right now.' He had already begun to formulate his own plans to look for the missing scientist but he didn't care to share that information with the others. They took his standoffishness as his normal way of behaving, not as the fact that he had other ideas than them. This worked just fine for him, let them think that he didn't care about helping them, he didn't, and this way they wouldn't be getting in his way.  
  
"Ok, so it's agreed. Yamcha will start looking through all the places that he usually goes with her and the rest of us will start scouring every store, restaurant, and hotel that she might be at."  
  
The balding short fighter scratched the back of his head and brought up the one point that ruined his own plans.  
  
"Umm…Goku, don't you think someone should check the…hospitals?"  
  
Everyone looked at the ground and the smile that always lit his rivals face, although it had already been dampened by the plans they were making, disappeared entirely. So no one had wanted to think about that possibility? It was just fine with him.  
  
"I'll search the damn hospitals. Although I think that woman is too much of a stubborn bitch to get herself in enough trouble to need to go there."  
  
Yamcha and a few of the others glowered at him for his 'bitch' comment but it only made him smirk slightly. They probably didn't think it was appropriate to call her a bitch when she was missing and possibly seriously hurt or even…dead.  
  
"Ok, fine. Vegeta can take care of that. Who's going to search the morgues?"  
  
Everyone gasped and stared openly at Krillin for that question, as if he had just uttered the most unpardonable offense on the planet.  
  
"What? Come on guys. You know it has to be done. I don't like to think of that possibility anymore than the rest of you, but it is a possibility and it has to be checked out. The sooner we get that part done the sooner we can rest easier."  
  
"Unless of course she's lying in a ditch somewhere."  
  
Now it was everyone's, including Krillin's, turn to look at Yamcha and scowl deeply at him.  
  
"Sorry! I know, no one needed that thought right now…it was just…there on my mind…and I'm worried about her. None of us every bothered to teach her how to fight. Without us to protect her she's defenseless…."  
  
"Listen Yamcha, you're right that she doesn't know how to fight, but I wouldn't say she's defenseless. I remember the last time I pissed her off. Ooh, my ears still hurt from that."  
  
Kakarot rubbed his ears in remembered pain and Vegeta had to roll his eyes, although he agreed that the woman could just burst the eardrum of any assailant and she'd be safe. He also agreed with the idiot, though he wouldn't admit that out loud. The woman didn't have any clue how to fight, nor did she have much ki and anyone who could ignore her loud voice, which would be a rare find, would be able to overpower her easily.  
  
The fighters all finally agreed on their plans, with Piccolo agreeing to go search the morgues in case she showed up there, which everyone also agreed that they sincerely hoped she didn't, and they all took off to begin their prospective searches. Since he had already planned on searching all the hospitals this didn't detract from his plans in the slightest bit. As he flew away, Vegeta actually allowed himself the brief hope that she would be found by someone else, alive and well.  
  
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Daniel sat outside with everyone else. Everyone in this room had a loved one they were waiting to hear about. Ok, so he didn't even know the girl, but he was still worried about her. From what he heard the car had exploded not long after he and the paramedics had left and whatever identification the woman had with her was incinerated in the fire. No one knew who she was and they couldn't call her family, so Daniel had decided to wait for her to wake up. Once she did he'd make sure her relatives knew where she was and that she was fine. He knew that they must be frantic by now if they had noticed her disappearance. He would be extremely upset if one of his loved ones had gone missing.  
  
The person sitting next to him was there because his wife had gotten into an accident as well, but she didn't seem to have been hurt badly. Daniel had entered into a conversation with him and once the older man found out that Daniel didn't even know the woman he was waiting to hear news on and all the facts surrounding his presence here the man had temporarily gone into shock. He recovered quickly and started to proclaim loudly to the room about Daniel's kind heart, heroic tendencies and great consideration, which had made him blush profusely.  
  
He didn't think that he was any of those things. He just did what he thought was right when he went down the cliff. And he just thought that if he was in the woman's position he would have liked someone to be there for him when he woke up, to relay to him what had happened and what was going on. The fact that no one could figure out who the young woman was made it worse in his mind. If need be he would stay there all day, he already had stayed there all night.  
  
He was just thinking of getting up and getting something out of the vending machine located just outside the waiting room door when one of the nurses came in and beckoned to him. He got up to follow her outside. He had already met this nurse, a lovely young woman working as a nurse as she finished her medical school to become a neurosurgeon. She led him into the IC unit and right over to a door. He quirked one eyebrow at her when she did this and she smiled at him kindly.  
  
"I know you're not family so you really shouldn't be in here, but you've stayed here all night and I think you're just the nicest guy for all you've done. Just don't tell anyone that I let you in here, I like my job."  
  
Daniel smiled back at her and laughed slightly.  
  
"You've got a deal. I think you're too close to your dreams for me to let your chances get ruined now. Thanks."  
  
Margarite walked back to the nurse's station, leaving him to proceed by himself. He pushed the door open quietly and peeked inside. A swish of hair could be heard and he dimly saw a figure sitting up in the bed closest to the window. He crept inside, turning the light on as he went and saw two beautiful blue eyes blinking at the sudden light.  
  
"I'm sorry. I just thought we might find it easier if the lights were on. I don't want to trip over anything."  
  
The woman laughed slightly, her lips parting to show two rows of perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth. Daniel was really glad that he had helped save this woman; she was damn gorgeous! Not that he wouldn't have helped if she were ugly. Hell, he hadn't even known that she was this pretty.  
  
Daniel walked over to her and pulled a chair up beside her bed, setting his jacket down into it and staying standing, studying her quietly. There was a long strip of bandage covering her jaw to her chin and a smaller one over the gash on her temple. No blood soaked through and he was glad to see that she wasn't still bleeding.  
  
"How many stitches did you get?"  
  
"Umm…they said about….twenty….fifteen for this one and five for the other."  
  
She moved her hand gracefully over bandage on her cheek as she said that, making sure not to actually touch the white gauze. Her eyes stared thoughtfully into his while he watched her. She was more than just pretty, she was elegant and graceful, something he didn't see in trauma victims often.  
  
"Well Miss Jane Doe, do you want to tell me how I can contact your family?"  
  
At this pronouncement the woman's eyes clouded over with confusion and she wrinkled her brow, winding when that tugged on the bandages on her temple. She finally shook her head and closed her eyes, whispering something to him he almost didn't hear.  
  
"Who?"  
  
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AN.: Ok, here's the first chapter of 'One Stormy Day' This is my first non- A/U fic. ^_^ I want to know what you guys think. Do you think I started it out well? Do you think I should continue with it? Do you think I should make all my chapters at least this long instead of so short like I usually do? Go ahead and tell me. ^_^ Also, if you want to be on my mailing list for my dbz fics then go ahead and e-mail me at hibari_heza@fangirl.org or leave your e-mail address in a review and I'll add you to the list. ^_^ Thanks. 


	2. Picture Perfect

One Stormy Day  
Chapter 2  
Picture Perfect  
  
Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, it isn't possible for me to own DBZ and the characters in this story, except for Daniel, he's mine.   
  
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Vegeta was pissed. VERY pissed. He'd already checked all of the hospitals and none of them had a Bulma Briefs listed with them. She also wasn't in any of the morgues; he had already found Piccolo and asked him. Now he was left with one worry, if the other fighters didn't find her anywhere, then it might have meant that the woman's idiot was right. She might have been lying in a ditch somewhere, possibly dying.   
  
He didn't want to think of that. If she died then he would have to move. He could never put up with her mother without her there. And her father would take twice as long as she did to repair his training equipment, despite all the threats that Vegeta made to him daily on that account. Of course, there was always the fact that he would...miss arguing with her. It was amusing watching her get riled up, having her stand up to him, sometimes pressing her fingers to his shoulders in an attempt to make sure he noted her angry glare. It was adorable.  
  
Vegeta almost fell out of the air when that thought crossed his mind, but other than argue with it our deny it he pushed it to the far recesses of his mind, hoping it would just go away on its own. He had too many things to do to find the woman to waste time arguing with himself over a silly little thought, even if it was an extremely disturbing thought.   
  
There they were. He had told the bald one and the idiot to meet him; he wanted information. The two men looked up as he approached them. They shrank back slightly at the scowl on his face, which was even more dangerous looking than usual.  
  
"Have either of you found the woman yet? Has anyone heard from her?"  
  
"Well no Vegeta. We're all still searching but so far we haven't seen or heard a thing."  
  
"I honestly didn't think that you would care Vegeta. You've never cared about her before."  
  
"I don't have to explain my reasons to you! Just find the damn woman."  
  
"Umm...so you haven't seen her in the hospitals I take it."  
  
Krillin inched himself forward between the two men slightly, hoping that it would help to calm them down and at least wouldn't make Vegeta madder, which seemed unlikely, since he rather liked being alive.  
  
"No I haven't found the blasted woman in the hospitals! If I had found her do you think I would be here talking with you weaklings?"  
  
"No, you'd be training, showing no concern for anyone but yourself."  
  
"Hey listen Yamcha, I think it might not help things if you pick a fight with Vegeta. Unless you're volunteering to search for her while your enjoying your own stay."  
  
Vegeta smirked and Yamcha glared at the shorter human fighter but wisely decided to stay out of it. It was true after all. If he picked a fight with Vegeta he could expect a long stay in a hospital bed. Besides, he really felt kind of guilty. If Bulma was missing it was possibly, and probably, his fault. The night she went missing had been the night that he...and she had stormed away from him so quickly he hadn't had a chance to say anything beyond the barest explanation. He didn't want to believe it was his fault, Bulma was such a strong woman, but he knew deep down that it most likely was. And he didn't want to miss the chance to find her and make it up to her, which he certainly wouldn't be able to do once Vegeta broke his body into pieces.  
  
"Well, I guess we might have to expand the search. You're sure you didn't see her? Maybe there was another woman with blue hair that might have had some bandages or something so you didn't recognize her?"  
  
"Listen you short dolt! I told you she isn't in there. I checked them all and not one of them had a patient named Bulma Briefs in it."  
  
"Wait a minute Vegeta? You're telling me you didn't actually look at any of the women?"  
  
Despite his decision of five seconds ago to not antagonize Vegeta, Yamcha found himself chuckling to himself. Which was, of course, a bad mistake.  
  
Vegeta shot him a furious glare and hoisted him towards him by the front of his shirts.  
  
"What exactly are you laughing at?"  
  
Krillin sighed and floated behind Yamcha, waving his hands to get Vegeta's attention.   
  
"Never mind him Vegeta, he's just being an idiot with a death wish. You wouldn't have known of course, and none of us thought to tell you, but sometimes when they can't identify someone they place them in the hospital under the name of Jane Doe, or John Doe for guys. You'll need to see if they have any young women fitting Bulma's description. Better yet, why don't you stop by the CC and get a picture of her, you can take it around and ask if anyone has seen her. Check out all the Jane Doe's within her age group."  
  
Vegeta tossed the idiot away from him and glared at the shorter man. He would have been angry that the human was ordering him around but he was too angry at the stupid earthling customs that had kept him from finding the woman.  
  
"Damn it! Fine, I'll go back and look at all the women this time and see to those whatever Doe's. But this is the last time I search those facilities; they all smell disgusting. And don't let me see you again unless you've found the woman or I will blast you to the next dimension."  
  
This last part was directed at Yamcha who had by that time regained his footing in the air (lol) and had returned to glare at Vegeta. The Saiyajin prince turned from the two men, one who was incredibly pissed and the other incredibly confused, and shot off towards the compound he had been living at since his return to Earth.  
  
He landed outside the woman's balcony and stepped through the doors to her room. She left them unlocked, which he supposed would have been strange for someone to do, especially someone as rich as the woman was, but his room was right next door and he would have killed anyone trying to break in. The moment the woman realized someone was in here room she would have screamed her head off and he wouldn't get back to sleep until the someone was taken care of.  
  
He walked around her bed, dodging the bigger piles of clothing on the floor, and strode to her bedside table. He yanked open several of her drawers at once, spilling the contents onto the disheveled mess she called a bed, and began rifling through the contents. Once he found what he was looking for he yanked up the offensive little book and opened it up. Several pictures not trapped within the clear coverings fell onto the bed to join the mess already there. Vegeta flipped through the pictures. None of them seemed to really show the woman at her best, none of them really captured her that way she was. And far too many of them were taken with that damn idiot.  
  
Just as he was coming to the back end of the book he came upon one picture which made him pause. The woman had her arm around the idiot's shoulders and he was grinning happily at the camera device. The woman was smiling as well, although her smile was more secretive and less goofy. She wasn't looking at the man her arm was around or at the camera either. She was looking over her shoulder at someone behind her; someone with upswept dark hair and a glower pasted over his face. He hadn't noticed that, when the picture was taken he had known he was in it, though it had been unintentional, but he was too distracted to notice the woman's eyes on him at the time. Too distracted to notice how beautiful she was with hr eyes fixed warmly on him.  
  
Oh yes, there was no mistaking the look that was in her eyes. It was something he was unused to until he came to Earth but he had seen it in her eyes whenever she looked at any of the pathetic people she called her friends. It was....compassion...and understanding....  
  
Vegeta slammed the book closed and threw it onto the bed, growling angrily at himself as he did so. This was not the time to start thinking such weak thoughts. It didn't matter if the woman felt anything for him, it only mattered that he find her and get her back home. Then he wouldn't have to worr...put up with her sniveling mother and father, he could go back to his routine.   
  
He shuffled through another few drawers in her dresser, pointedly ignoring all of the silky undergarments contained there and the unwanted thoughts they brought with them. He finally found another book but this one didn't hold anything he found useful either. Certainly it was full of pictures of the female; her and her friends, her and her 'boyfriend', her alone waving joyfully at whoever held the camera. But again, he wasn't satisfied with any of them.  
  
He knew she had to have had more of those 'photo album' things lying around somewhere, he just had to find them, then he would find a picture suitable for using to find the woman. He stood from the drawer and raked his eyes over the room, looking at the mess he had created and the mess that Hurricane Bulma had already left behind. He drew his eyes across one more piece of furniture that he was certain must have held what he wanted.   
  
The books on her shelf would have gone flying to the floor as well, which really would have pissed Bulma off, even more than the mess he already made would, when she got back but he managed to find just what he wanted within five seconds of looking over the shelves. He flipped open the third album and started thumbing threw it. It didn't take very long for him to find the picture he wanted. It was perfect. The woman was alone and instead of flailing her arms about or even smiling her usual big smile for whoever was taking the picture, she had her eyes fastened on something beyond the device in front of her, for once ignoring a photo opportunity.  
  
Her eyes held a combination of emotions only one of which Vegeta was intimately familiar with; anger. She was clearly pissed at whatever she was looking at, and yet....just like in that other picture her eyes held that same...compassion. He didn't know how one could have that mix of emotions; as far as he was concerned anger only went by itself.  
  
He took the picture out of the wrapper, not caring that he tore it in his haste, and ran to the balcony, jetting into the air as he ran and heading straight back to the hospitals he had just recently visited. He smirked to himself when he realized he would get yet another chance to terrify the staff of the medical buildings. Even if he didn't find the woman, the chance to scare someone into submission was sure to brighten his day, slightly.  
  
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Daniel left the gift shop and strode quickly towards the elevator. He carried a bundle in the mundane brown wrapping paper that all gift shops seemed to utilize and he whistled a happy tune to himself as he went. It was really a nice day; the sun was bright and the sky was clear after the previous days horrendous downpour and it even promised to warm up considerably by the middle of the day. He rounded a corner and walked right into the room, no one even bothered to stop him or question his being there. Which was something he liked, considering he was doing something nice he ought not to have been questioned. But then again, most of society was always suspicious of someone doing anything nice with nothing to gain from it. He really thought that was ridiculous. People should be able to help each other out and receive thanks instead of paranoia.   
  
His newest good deed looked up at him and smiled as he entered the room. At least this woman liked his helping her and didn't question his reasons, although he wouldn't have blamed her if she did. In her situation he wouldn't have been in the slightest bit offended if she had just asked him to leave her alone. But she didn't, this girl actually understood his motives and his desire to help. It was something he didn't come across very often, and he was damn sure going to enjoy it while it lasted.  
  
"I brought the things you wanted. I'm hoping this is just right. I know this may not have been what you would have picked, and possibly not to your liking, but what can I say? I'm a guy."  
  
He set down the brown package and looked down at her. She looked up at him, a soft smile on her face and then sighed and looked back out the window.   
  
"Well, I'll just step outside so you can change. Then we'll see what we can do for you from there."  
  
She nodded and turned to give him one more small smile before he shut the door behind him. Daniel leaned against the door and let his head drop back against his, his eyes finding their way closed by their own willpower. He had stayed at the hospital all night, talking to the young woman through most of it, but it didn't matter what he asked, she couldn't remember anything. They had both fallen fitfully to sleep around two in the morning, but she had probably rested a little more comfortable than he had; she had a bed.  
  
  
She closed her eyes and sighed. It was such a depressing day. Last night it hadn't really sunk in yet, not fully. Oh she realized that something was wrong once she woke up and couldn't place where she was. It made it worse to realize that she couldn't even remember her own name.  
  
Daniel had been so nice to her, letting her know what had happened and staying with her the whole night, even though he didn't know her anymore than she did. He had even gone down to the gift shop and gotten her a dress, since hers had apparently been ruined in the crash. She wanted to repay him but didn't know if she had any money or not, until he assured her that, judging by her car, she was quite a wealthy woman. That made her feel better, knowing that even if she couldn't remember it, she lived comfortably.  
  
She stood up and dropped the hospital gown to the floor, slipping the new dress up onto her shoulders. It was a summer type dress, with little carrots and bunnies hopping all over it. She couldn't be absolutely certain, but she rather suspected that this was a dress she wouldn't be caught dead in. But Daniel had tried. And he was male. So it was too much to expect that in a hospital gift shop he could find a dress that would suit her.   
  
As soon as she finished dressing she would be checking out of the hospital. She could have stayed, seen a specialist, gone to counseling, and generally been miserable. But she preferred to get out of the depressing confines of the hospital and try to regain her memory on her own. And since she hadn't had any injuries worth staying in the hospital for she felt confident enough to go back out into the world she had to reacquaint herself with.   
  
Daniel was waiting patiently for her outside her room when she finished and stepped out. His eyes were closed and he seemed so peaceful, not that he wasn't when he was fully awake. He was the nicest person she had ever met....except..as strange as it seemed that thought didn't seem right to her. She couldn't imagine anyone nicer than Daniel, but apparently she did know someone who was. She only hoped that she'd get the chance to meet this person again, and to remember them.   
  
As they walked through the hospital entrance a large commotion to her right caught her attention. She would have tried to see what was going on, but Daniel didn't seem to notice it and she didn't want to fall behind. As she ran to catch up to him she thought for one wild moment that the commotion was about her, but why it would be escaped her completely. It was probably just a silly hope that her relatives would be looking for her, but she didn't think they would make that much a fuss about it...whoever they were.  
  
She continued to follow Dan to his car and hopped in when he held open the door for her. It made her blush, having him treat her like some kind of lady, when he knew nothing about her. She looked out the window at the hospital as they pulled away, and her last sight of the imposing pink brick building was the pale blue sign that read "West City Community Hospital."  
  
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Daniel pulled out of the hotel parking lot. He had dropped the young woman off there. He had taken to calling her Jane, although he knew that name didn't fit right with her exotic beauty. He would have just let her stay at his apartment, he had that extra room and the futon was comfy, even if it was thin. But Jane hadn't wanted to 'impose' upon his space; he figured she was probably just nervous about staying in his house, alone with him, someone she had barely met.   
  
So he was paying her hotel room bill, something she had insisted he not do, but he played it off by reminding her that once she had her memory back she could repay him. With that thought firmly in her head she had allowed him to move her into the hotel. It wasn't the biggest, ritziest, most expensive hotel in West City, but it would do. At least he was certain she couldn't remember staying in the glamorous hotels and wouldn't feel cheated by the small hotel. It was really almost a motel, but if he expected to be putting her up there for a while then she would just have to get along with it.  
  
Daniel drove down the road, mindful that the streets were still slick with rain and oil and who knew how many other chemicals, his mind focused almost entirely on the blue haired woman he now seemed to be in charge of taking care of.  
  
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Vegeta stormed through the hospital, looking in each and every room. After the first hospital he had grown tired of nurses, doctors, and other worthless staff trying to get in his way, so he zoomed past them as fast as he could, leaving only a slight breeze as evidence to them that he had been there. Five hospitals had yielded absolutely nothing to him. There was one Jane Doe with blue hair, but she wasn't Bulma, and he could easily tell that she dyed it that shade, which was just a tad bit off from the perfect aqua blue of the woman's.  
  
He had one more hospital to try and he was determined to find her in it, or at least find some clue. The staff members he had actually deigned to talk to hadn't recognized the young woman in the picture he had shown them. He was fairly certain that the staff would have remembered her, he asked as many male members as he could. There were a few pretty blue haired women, but none of them could compare to the woman, and any man that had seen her would have remembered her.  
  
The fifth hospital was where he got lucky...or unlucky, which ever fate preferred to call it. He easily found several men who were willing to drool over the picture and give him all the information he wanted, along with several women who were content to add anything the men missed while shooting jealous glares at the picture...or flirting with him....The last only put him in an even worse mood than the damn search had to begin with. And to make it all so much better he discovered the woman's presence in the hospital just as she was being checked out.  
  
He ran down to the hospital parking lot and began looking around, but he couldn't see the woman anywhere he looked. His frantic dashes about the place were causing a large commotion as well, seeing as he didn't have any problem with shoving all of the people out of his way. Once the security people came up and asked him to leave, and he had thrown them suitably far enough and hard enough away, he took off back towards the Capsule Corporation. He would have to call a meeting, something he wasn't looking forward to. At least now he knew she was alive.  
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AN: Alright, I know this chapter is short, but compared to the majority of chapters in my other stories, this one is still long. Hehe ^_^ And I apologize sooo much for taking so long in getting this out. I've had a TON of projects and things going on that has kept me too busy to write on this Fortunately, the majority of those are done.....or close to being done...I hope. Heh Anyway, I hope that no on is too disappointed with this chapter, because I'm not too sure about it...well, the second half I'm not too sure about anyway....Anyway, there is my apology and my excuse so all I will say now is that I hope you enjoy. ^_^  
  
If you want to be on the mailing list for this story then just send an e-mail to hibari_heza@fangirl.org  
And tell me that it's this story that you want, as I use this ml for all my dbz fics. ^_^ Or, leave your e-mail in a review and I'll add you. Thanks. I'm sorry to anyone who might have been trying to send an e-mail to my ml. I accidentally had the wrong addy, it's .org, not .com. hehe ^_^ But that one will work now. ^_^ Thanks.  
  
manga: Eee! You stop inferring things just because I want them to be inferred. ^_~ lol kidding. Umm...well....I try to update quickly.....^_^  
  
Ttrin: ^_^ Thanks. I like long chapters too, which is why I'm trying for them. Hehehe Now people can't complain about how short my chapters are. ^_^  
  
IneiTenshi: Thanks. ^_^ You've been added, which you probably already noticed. ^_^  
  
Emerald Shadow: Thanks. ^_^ I plan to, because I really love this story too.   
  
miayu: I will. Thanks. ^_^ It's nice to hear things like that.  
  
archangel-bulma: Well....they might find her soon....but you're right, they ought to hurry up. ^_^ hehe  
  
Reef: lol ^_^ Yes, the poor thing. Let's hope he can find her soon...oh wait...I'm the author...why am I hoping? lol ^_^  
  
Bryony: ^_^ Thanks! I'm glad I have people who like it. As long as I have at least a few people who read my stuff and like it then I'll keep it up. ^_^  
  
Selenity Jade: ::is glomped:: Thanks Jade! ^_^ I'm glad you like it too. I know it pains you to not be able to read TCDB and have to settle for my other fic (^_~) but I really appreciate you reading it and liking it. ^_^  
  
roguemoon: It's definitely going to be a B/V. Daniel's expendable. ^_^  
  
Lynz: Thanks. ^_^ I'm glad you think so. I really love this one, and I'm glad other people do too.  
  
Hitomi: Hehehe, he's certainly going to have to work to find her. ^_^ Does it makes sense after the second chapter?  
  
Ryukai: ^_^ Thank you. I try to write faster than this, I've just been SO busy the last few weeks. What with all these projects, in school as well as for my house. Heh  
  
death: Uhh well...not usually....I don't take so long usually. But I've had a lot of projects that have taken up a VERY large portion of my time everyday, so....it's taken me a while. Heh 


	3. Watcher in the Dark

One Stormy Day  
Chapter Three  
Watcher in the Dark  
  
Disclaimer: I'm not the great and wonderful creator of DragonBallZ and I don't own the characters, except for Daniel (and I'm selling him on Ebay ^_~) but I do own this story...which doesn't get me anything, does it? ^_^ lol  
  
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The semi-darkness surrounded her as she lay on her bed and stared contemplatively at the ceiling...or what little she could see of it with no light in the room except for the one leaking under the door from the hall way. She was casting about in her mind for a memory...for any tiny little thing that might spark a memory and bring back her awareness of who she was....and after three hours of this pointless staring she had come up with nothing....not a single memory, no wispy tendril or full blown recollection....nothing....it was a very depressing three hours....  
  
Since she apparently resided in the city, at least so far as anyone could tell, she decided to go about for a walk and see if anything in the streets was familiar to her. Of course the city was such a vast metropolis that she could have wandered for two days and possibly not found anything that she knew...but she still had the vain hope that something would help her remember her identity.  
  
At first the walk was strangely calming and pleasant, but after a while of walking the unfamiliar streets, peering into the shop windows and watching people go about their daily normal lives, she began to get very depressed.   
  
"It isn't fair! I should be able to walk these streets and know where I am. I should be able to walk into a store with money that I've earned for myself. This just isn't fair...."  
  
She sat down on a park bench in the West City park, which more resembled a small National park than the place that citizens went to walk their dogs and play with their children. She leaned her head back and slouched down on the bench just as a young couple walked by with their small dog. She wasn't sure but the dog looked an awful lot like a beagle, it was probably a mutt. A lot of dogs and cats were mixed, it was hard to find pure breeds unless you paid a lot for them. As she sat there in the bright early morning sunshine she stared at the sky for hours and contemplated the world's animal population.  
  
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Vegeta sat calmly on the railing, leaning against the white walls of the CC building as he regarded the other fighters. They were in a small uproar...or rather a large one if you asked him. There was no sense in getting so worked up. The woman was alive, that was good news and they all should have been happy to hear it. Probably the fact that he was the one to bring this news to them was what had them upset.  
  
"We have to organize a search party again! We have to broadcast to the news stations and the whole city about Bulma. Maybe her parents can offer a reward to the first person that offers information on her whereabouts."  
  
"Yamcha, her parents already said they didn't want to cause a media sensation...can you just imagine all the rumors that will start flying about as soon as it's known that she's missing?  
  
"I don't care Krillin! She's my girlfriend and I want her brought home safe and sound!"  
  
"That's funny, I thought you told me the other day that you just broke up with her."  
  
Vegeta watched the pathetic human shoot a guilty look at the other Saiyajin. This was interesting. The man had broken up with her and was obviously feeling guilty about it.  
  
"When did you break up with the woman?"  
  
"Why does it matter to you Vegeta?! It's not like you care about her."   
  
"I just want to know why you have such a guilty look on your already ugly face."  
  
"What was that?! I'm not guilty! The only one who should feel guilty in here is you! I'll bet you said something that upset her and that's why she crashed!"  
  
"I have nothing to feel guilty about. As you said, I don't care about the woman."  
  
"That's enough! This senseless bickering isn't going to get any of us anywhere and it certainly isn't going to do Bulma any good."  
  
Vegeta hadn't realized that his fists were clenched so tightly to his side as he argued and he was silently thankful that the Namek had stopped them before he lost it and killed the human. He really didn't care about her, but he didn't want to hear her bitching if the man was dead when she came home. Provided she still cared about him. If he had broken up with her and caused her to crash then he would kill the human. The woman would still yell at him, but eventually she'd get over it, she'd probably even thank him for doing it, for ridding her of the unnecessary burden of putting up with the jackass.  
  
"Fine, I won't argue with him anymore, as long as he stops making accusations that I drove Bulma over that cliff!"  
  
"I'm sure that's not what he's saying Yamcha. I never heard him say that at all."  
  
"You are an idiot Kakarotto. I certainly was implying that the human moron is responsible."  
  
His enemy scratched his head in that characteristic confused idiot way that he had, a way that was particularly getting on Vegeta's nerves this morning.  
  
"You were? But I'm sure Yamcha had nothing to do with it. Right Yamcha?"  
  
"I don't have time to play he-said-she-said with you pack of morons. Take all the time you want to decide how best you'll keep the woman lost. I don't need any of you to help me find that annoying female."  
  
Vegeta stood up from the railing and blasted off away from the CC building, leaving the other fighters standing on the balcony staring after him.  
  
He didn't stop flying until he was in the dead center of the city, or rather a little bit west of the center of the city, more in the direction of the hospital in which he had located Bulma than anywhere else. He knew she was somewhere in the city still, she had to be. There was nowhere else that she would go. She hadn't gone to Kakarotto's or to that old perverts island. They had already checked for her time and again but she never showed up at any of the places where she should have been. He could come up with only one answer to why she hadn't come home after leaving the hospital: for some reason she wanted to be left completely alone. That would have been just fine with him if not for two things; one was his need for her to be there when he broke his gravity machine and the other was that her annoying friends wouldn't leave until they found her and they were definitely disturbing his training.  
  
Vegeta began his search through the city quickly. He wouldn't stop searching until he found the woman. Then he would bring her home and force her to face her reality. He was honestly disappointed that she would show such cowardice and run from her life. It didn't seem like the sort of thing she would do, she was too much of a loud-mouthed bitch to sit back and let something get the better of her.  
  
As soon as he found her he would demand to know what she thought she was doing by disrupting his life and training in such a manner.  
  
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It was getting to be dark by the time she awoke from her nap. She hadn't thought she was tired enough to fall asleep but it seemed she was. She supposed it was something that she should have expected, she hadn't slept well at all the night before. She was constantly tossing herself about in the bed, looking for a comfortable position while her mind absolutely refused to stop thinking and let her sleep. She remembered the doctors told her not to try too hard to regain her memory, that it would come back to her in time if she only allowed it to, but so far she hadn't been able to stop herself from thinking about. She'd racked her brains so many times in the last few days that she was starting to get a headache from it....although that could also have been pain from her head injuries, since those weren't healed yet.  
  
She pulled herself up from the bench and stretched, raising her hands high above her head and pulling them to the side to make sure she got all the kinks out of her back. After she had done this she looked around at her surroundings again. The park was such a dangerous looking place after dark. In fact, she was suddenly very aware that she was in the middle of a deserted park, alone, without any protection; in the dark and that she had a long walk back to her hotel. These thoughts, while at least a change from her focus on her own identity, was not the kind of comforting thing she was really wanting to think about.  
  
She turned away from the bench and back down the path she had taken to get to this secluded spot earlier, a decision she was actually regretting now. It wasn't so bad a walk, as long as she didn't get too jumpy and start picturing dark figured leaping from the bushes at her; in fact, it was really very pretty out. She could see a fair amount of the stars in gaps between the tree branches, which was a surprise to her, since she was in the middle of a large city and with all the light pollution she shouldn't have been able to see any of the pretty little stars.  
  
She got about halfway to her hotel room without worrying too much about the position she had allowed herself to get into, but about halfway home was when she became aware of footsteps behind her and the feeling that she was being watched. About halfway home was also when she increased her pace and was practically running down the street. She looked back at one point just in time to watch the person following her pass from the light of a street lamp. He wasn't very tall, but taller than she was, he was also clearly well built and could obviously overpower her easily. At that precise point she did start running and the man following her began to run as well.   
  
She made it to the hotel doors and dashed inside. She was standing in the hotels well-lit lobby, panting heavily and gaining herself some odd looks from the doorman and the woman at the check in counter but ignored them. The man that was following her had slowed to a walk as soon as he saw her disappear into the building and he walked casually by as if he was doing nothing but going for a nice stroll through the streets. He didn't even look through the glass doors into the hotel to see if she was still standing around. She figured he probably knew she was still standing there, to see if she could get a good look at him, un fortunately the light outside the door was burning out and had grown dim enough that her would-be assailant could pass safely by the door.  
  
The first thing that she did as soon as she regained her breath was to have the woman at the registration counter call the police and send them after the man. She doubted very much that they would find him, and even if they did find him she wouldn't be able to identify him. And what jury in the world would convict someone on the testimony of a woman who wasn't even capable of identifying herself.  
  
With a resigned sigh she turned from the door and went up the hotel steps. It had been a long day and she was exhausted, as much from the sprint for safety as from the nerve-racking knowledge that she might never remember who she was.  
  
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Goku finally reached his home at about midnight. He tried to sneak in quietly so as not to disturb his family but knew that Chichi would be up and waiting for him anyway so as long as he didn't wake up Gohan it didn't matter how loud he was when he entered. The light above the kitchen counter was on and it cast Chichi in shadows so he couldn't tell if she was angry at him for getting home so late or not.  
  
"Goku! What do you think you're doing coming home this late? You didn't even call to tell me how the search was going. You could have at least done that!"  
  
"Gee, I'm sorry Chi, I didn't think about it. We were flying the city hoping she'd be somewhere outside so we could spot her and I came straight home after that so I didn't have a phone."  
  
"You should have called before you went out to tell me you were doing so and might be home late! Really Goku, do you have to worry me so much?"  
  
Oh great, he'd done it now. She was going to make him feel guilty all night and he'd be lucky if she'd forgiven him by the morning.  
  
"Listen Chi, you know you don't have to worry about me. There's nothing on this planet that can hurt me."  
  
"Oh sure, but what if something comes from space again. I know how it will be. 'Oh sorry I didn't call to tell you our son was kidnapped and I'm going to get myself killed getting him back. Oh sorry I forget to mention I'm going off to train again and leaving you all alone. Oh sorry I didn't think to tell you that I wasn't going to come home for a year!' Really Goku, you are the most irresponsible man I've ever met. I just hope Gohan doesn't pick up your bad habits."  
  
Goku was still standing in the doorway when she finished this tirade and he was absolutely speechless. He'd never thought that he made her feel so bad when he left. Well, he'd try to be better about not worrying her. He'd been watching the Brief's for the last few days and saw their worry and grief over their missing daughter, he didn't want to continue putting Chichi through so much anguish.  
  
"I really am sorry Chi, I'll call you tomorrow once we plan what we're going to do."  
  
That had floored her, he could tell. He almost felt like giving himself a small pat on the back. He had done the impossible and actually made Chichi speechless. Something HE had said had startled her. But he wouldn't do that, it wouldn't look right to Chi and she'd just get suspicious that he didn't mean it and was only trying to get out of trouble. At least with her not talking he had the chance to herd her up the stairs to their bedroom and finally get some sleep.  
  
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Vegeta spent that night alone, as was his habit. But instead of training or even sleeping in his bedroom in the Brief's house, he spent that night in the southern hemisphere, destroying small, uninhabited islands. If there were any rare or nearly extinct creatures or vegetation located on the islands that he destroyed then it was their loss for being in his path. His concern wasn't about any of the animals or plants, his only reason for choosing these islands was because the woman would have been angry with him if he had killed anyone while releasing his anger.   
  
He had had an entirely too long day out in that damned city searching for the woman. He hated going into the city and generally only did it when the woman forced him to. He had been sure that he would be able to locate her if he went into the city and searched. She was the kind of woman that could spend all day long shopping and that was where he had spent his day...in department stores and walking up and down along shop windows, scaring the customers inside by rushing through, looking everywhere. His ears were still ringing from the shouts and shrieks of the women unfortunate enough to be in the dressing rooms when he barged in and checked them for her.  
  
Still he couldn't find her and this inability to locate her...to find her and bring her back to where she was supposed to be was causing conflicting emotions in him. He was enjoying the respite from her shrill voice yelling in his ears, but he also missed the engaging arguments.....not to mention the fact that he had damaged his training equipment again and she wasn't there to fix it and the old man was too distraught over her disappearance to do much of anything.  
  
With one more quick blast he had sunken all the islands in his vicinity, the only ones left around here had houses located on them so he knew that he couldn't touch them. With something that resembled a weary sigh Vegeta turned and flew back towards the place he had come to think of as 'their' home.  
  
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AN: Alright, I know this chapter has been extremely late and I do so humbly apologize for the delay. But allow me to explain myself. First of all FFN was down for quite some time and so no posting could be done even if I had had this chapter finished, which clearly I didn't because even when FFN was back up I didn't have this posted. That brings me to my second excuse....I've managed to get myself into a brand new relationship and so I've been spending a lot of time with my boyfriend. I've also been spending a lot of time out and about job hunting, since I do so desperately need a job. In fact, a lot of the time has been spent with my bf job hunting. ^_^   
  
I also apologize for the fact that this chapter is so short...but let me explain that too. I started this chapter over a month ago, I really did. And since I went so very long without working on it my inspiration for this chapter started lagging...and it was lagging severely. In order for me to be able to even get this much on this chapter I had to force myself to work on it but right now I'm out of inspiration....I'm sure for the next chapter it won't be so bad....since I'll make myself sit down and write it in one sitting, which is the way I usually do chapters because it works the best for me and is the only way I can make myself get them finished. ^_^ Anyway, I thank you all for your patience and I do promise to try my hardest to get the next chapter out soon and to make it longer. ^_^  
  
By the way, I've had to change my mailing list to yahoo. If you were already on the mailing list then you've been switched to it and there's no need to worry about you not being told of an update. If you would like to be placed on the mailing list then just send an e-mail to hibari_heza@yahoo.com and remember to tell me which story you want to be notified for, because I use that address for all of my stories. ^_^ Or, if you don't have the time to send an e-mail to me or you simply don't feel like it or whatever your reason, if you simply want to leave your e-mail address in a review I will be glad to put it on my ml for you.  
  
On another note....we're having terrible difficulties with our internet right now and can't quite figure out what's causing it. So the inability to stay connected long enough to update might effect how often I'm able to update. I'd like to ask a favor though. Any of my readers who use DSL or cable, could you kindly leave me a review and tell me what kind you use and if you know, what you pay for it. ^_^ I'm trying to get DLS and am having a hard time finding a server that works in my area that doesn't cost a lot of money. Anyway, thank you and bye.  
  
  
Sorceress Fujin: Well, someone will eventually...but I'm not giving anything away. ^_^  
  
Jewell: I try not to keep anyone waiting. ^_^ I'm excited too.  
  
Moose: Oh she will eventually. ^_^ Thanks for the review, I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes my  
story. Heh ^_^ I'll keep writing it, don't worry. o.0 I just need to spend more time on it.  
  
RogueMoon: lol ^_^ Well, he has to be expendable, he can't keep being so nice...it's unnerving...hehe  
  
Bryony: You're right, someone should have. Hehehe You'll know what's going to happen the same time as everyone else; when it happens. ^_^  
  
IneiTenshi: You poor thing. ^_^ Glad I could be of some help. Hehehe Thank you ^_^  
  
Selenity Jade: Well, he is....he's not important other than as someone to advance the plot...he'll be doing a lot of plot advancing though...so he's important for now. ^_^ And yes, I'm evil. Heee  
  
Kaijin: Thanks ^_^ I'm sooo glad people like it. It makes me feel all nice to know people like my writing.  
  
Rez: ::blinks and ponders for a few:: You know......those are all interesting thoughts.....we'll see though.  
^_~  
  
Elvin Goddess: Now now, you don't expect me to give up this great search and chase stuff so soon do you?  
^_^  
  
Lynz: I do not suck, that's not very nice Lynz. I won't deny I'm evil though. When did I get the chance to tell you I updated? ^_^ Thanks anyway.  
  
Tae: Dotta! Hi hon, bye! 


	4. New Roomies

One Stormy Day  
Chapter Four  
New Roomies

Disclaimer: You all know the drill, I don't own DBZ. I only own this story, and Daniel...

Vegeta came home late after his night of island blasting and slept very little, consumed as he was with his new obsession. He HAD to find the woman. It was impossible that she should leave him alone with only her infuriatingly annoying parents. He started his search again after only a few hours of rest and he knew exactly where she would have to be, so he started looking at those centers for tourists that Bulma called 'Hotels.' Hotels were likely the first and best place to look so that's where he would start. If he didn't find her there then he would have to figure out someplace else to search.

He stopped his circling of the city once he spotted a booth containing the telephone contraption. Bulma had pointed out to him that such booths contained one of those books she was always using to find places that she wanted. He landed and took the book from the booth, leaving the broken chain swinging wildly about behind him. He scared some gray-haired shrew from a bench and sat down, flipping the book open and searching through it for hotel names. With the book clamped under one arm he went quickly to the closest hotel. 

The silence in the room was perfect; not a single noise penetrated into his little bubble to disturb his peace. At first his sleep-fogged brain didn't register the annoying buzzing that sought to wake him up. When it finally did register he sat up in his bed and reached clumsily for the phone perched on his bedside table. As he raised the receiver to his ear he wiped at his eyes, trying to erase the sleep from his system.

"Hello? Daniel? Hi, it's uhh...Jane..."

The voice speaking haltingly and insecurely over the phone shocked him awake faster than cold water splashed in his face would have.

"Jane? What's wrong? What time is it? Is there something the matter?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you...it's just that I don't have anyone else to call..."

"...I'm listening."

A few hours after he had picked up the phone Daniel ushered his new guest into his home.

"So when did Vegeta finally get back?"

"Oh, not until very late Krillin. I'm very hopeful he'll find her though."

The Z fighters were gathered once again in the Brief's living room. Few of them had been home since Bulma disappeared, preferring to stay close to the information center formed in the Briefs compound.

"I never thought I'd see Vegeta so obsessed with anything that wasn't training. Why do you think he cares if she's gone?"

"I'd say he was feeling guilty Krillin. Maybe he's the reason she's gone. But then again, this IS Vegeta and he doesn't feel guilt. He's an unfeeling, cold-hearted jerk."

'Hey Yamcha, give him a break. Vegeta's not as bad as you think he is. He's been through a lot in his life. He's trying to do something good for someone he cares about."

"I care nothing about that woman! I don't want you saying that I do Kakarot. I care about no one! I'm only trying to find her because the woman is useful"

Vegeta had been standing on the stairs, listening to the idiots talk about him as if he wasn't in the building. This was what they were contributing to finding the woman? He hadn't seen them do a single thing other than sit around and talk. So far he was the only one out looking for her. These pathetic, useless beings were what she called friends. What a waste friendship was if this was all it ever got anyone.

He had searched every hotel in the city and even the ones on the outskirts. There were now hundreds more people in this world that hated him. Why humans felt they needed so much sleep he'd never figure out. He had finally located her hotel in the very early hours of the day.

The fact that he had just barely missed her didn't calm his frustration in the slightest. He had known it was her room the minute he stepped out of the stairwell and his excitement at finally finding her and putting an end to this hunt had had to be ruthlessly squashed. He forced the door open onto a silent and empty room only vacated moments before.

Now he had no idea where to look for her. She was clearly with some male, who he would personally kill once he found the man, but he didn't know who. Unless she went to another hotel then his one lead was gone.

He had spent the last two days doing nothing but trying to find her and it had gotten him nowhere. Now he was going to go back to training and wait until something else came up.

He passed through the kitchen where the TV had been left on without anyone to watch it. He gulped down his breakfast, paying no attention to the news program that was droning on about a serial killer and his latest would be victim.

"This is a nice place you have here Daniel."

"Thanks. I try to keep it semi-decent...my friends all like to drop in unexpectedly. Oddly enough, so do my ex-girlfriends."

Jane laughed, trying to force herself into a more relaxed mood.

"It's probably because you're such a nice guy that they like to be around you. I'm willing to bet that if I regain my memory I'll still want to be friends with you as well."

Daniel shook his head and waved a finger in her face, smiling teasingly.

"There's no 'if'. You'll remember. You just have to have some time. It would help if we could figure out who you are though, then we could get you back home where you belong. I think if we could surround you by your friends and family, and your own things, then you'd have to remember who you are. I'll bet you're someone pretty important though. You DID crash a pretty expensive car."

"I'd rather not remember that. Well, actually, I don't remember that, but I'd rather not think about it. I mean, that's what started this whole amnesia thing...not to mention the fact that I could have died..."

Daniel decided to keep his silence. He didn't really want to upset his guest her first day in his house and he couldn't think of anything else to talk about. I mean, how did you have a conversation with someone who couldn't remember their whole entire life? You couldn't compare notes on parents or siblings or even ex relationships. He couldn't even ask her about her likes and dislikes. It wasn't going to be easy having her around, but he wasn't the kind of guy that would ask her to leave just because he suddenly realized what a trial she would be.

"Well, let's get you set up. You can stay in my office room, the couch turns into a bed."

"Thank you. I know I'm being an inconvenience but I just don't feel safe in that hotel now..."

"Don't think anything of it. I wouldn't want you staying anywhere that you didn't feel safe. You're my responsibility right now you know. So until I can deliver you back into your own families hands, you're staying here."

She hadn't really been thinking about what she was doing when she called him, not until he picked up the phone at four o'clock in the morning, but she was glad that she had done it now. He really was a nice guy, hard as it was to believe. She couldn't remember herself or her life but she did have the funniest notion that she didn't think many good men existed in the world. Certainly Daniel was probably the only one she would ever know.

AN: Ok, I know this is super short and horribly late but let me explain how I'm going to work this. I'm going to put up this tiny bit and use it as my jump-start to getting back to my writing.


	5. Detectives Here and Everywhere

One Stormy Day  
Chapter Five  
Detectives Here and Everywhere  
  
Disclaimer: Well, you all know how this goes. I don't own DBZ. I only own this story and Daniel. ^_^  
  
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"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Tonight we have an update on the rash of murders that have been plaguing West City citizens. The murderer, known to police as Radisson for the hotel where his first victim was staying, was thwarted in his latest attempt to attack a young woman when she reached the safety of her hotel. Once there the doorman immediately called the police."  
  
"Unfortunately the attacker managed to escape before the police could arrive on the scene. This is the first woman to escape completely unscathed and with her life and she is now the only witness that can identify and put this killer away."  
  
"The young lady, who's name West city police officials are keeping safely guarded, has refused to speak with journalists and is being carefully safeguarded by West City officers."  
  
"That's it for our broadcast tonight. This is Cindy McGrath, signing off."  
  
The form of the pretty young woman faded from the screen as a commercial for a hair care product came on. The commercial held Vegeta's attention as much as the news program had but he couldn't turn it off, since the woman's mother refused to cook dinner unless she could watch the vacuous blond woman reporting the news.  
  
He had spent the day training, the first time that he had since the woman had disappeared. Unfortunately he had been unable to keep his mind on his exercising and away from the idiot woman's disappearance.  
  
"Isn't it horrible? All those poor women being attacked and left to die by that horrible man. And he's only attacking women visiting the city and staying in our hotels. Oh my!"  
  
Dr. Briefs looked up as his wife called out and Vegeta's dinner crashed to the ground.  
  
"Oh! I hope Bulma's not in any danger from this guy. You don't think she might have run into him and that's why she's gone?"  
  
The older blond woman began her hysterics and her husband hurried to comfort her. Vegeta was too busy at first staring at his dinner lying on the floor. But once her shrieks began to pierce his ears it was too much for him to stand.  
  
"Stop that shrill noise making! Your idiot daughter is alive and she hasn't met up with this pathetic woman killer. She was alive yesterday when she left her hotel room so stop this yelling."  
  
With that he stormed out of the room and back to his gravity chamber, tired of the constant reminder of the woman's absence. For yet another day he had to put up with the presence of the other fighters in the Capsule Compound. None of the fighters had come up with any way to find her and their inactivity was testing his control.  
  
Tomorrow he would fly around the city and search for her again. The useless searching was better than having to put up with the weaklings and Kakarot. He stopped outside his chamber and the door slid open. His eyes were drawn to the balcony for the woman's room. The windows stood dark and vacant looking, with no light shining out and no blue haired bitch sitting inside.  
  
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"Are you sure it's ok? I feel like I'm taking advantage of you too much as it is...."  
  
"Forget about it Jane. I just want to help you. And you can't keep wearing the same outfit everyday. Besides, when you remember who you are you can repay me with a nicely detailed explanation of your life."  
  
"That's not really all that you want is it? I'll have to pay you back...if I can."  
  
"Hey, I don't do these kinds of things to have people in debt to me. So just relax. I think that once you do you'll find it easier to get your memory back. Really."  
  
'Jane' was still giving him doubtful looks every few seconds even as she rifled through the racks in the women's section of the department store. The clothing here was atrocious but there wasn't much she could say about it. After all, it wasn't her money she was spending and she felt horrible about it as it was. But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that had she been in her right mind, she never would have been caught dead even passing by these clothes, much less considering to wear them.   
  
When she had woken up that morning, the first as Daniel's guest, she had stumbled out of the guest room and into the kitchen to find that it was already late morning and that her host had been keeping her breakfast warm for her for some hours. It had really been delicious, slightly cold though it was, and the fact that he had smilingly admitted that he had made it especially for her made her feel even worse for oversleeping and keeping him waiting. But Daniel hadn't said a word about it, just having taken it for granted that she had been through another rough night.   
  
After breakfast he had brought up the subject of her clothing, which she had been wearing and sleeping in for two days now, and suggested that they take a small shopping trip. The thought of getting out of the dress had thrilled her but she knew she couldn't take too much of his money so she had bypassed all of the nice stores that he had suggested and settled instead on the bargain store she now stood in. Daniel was still smiling cheerfully and trying to boost her spirits, along with making all too noticeably false attempts at pretending to like the poor excuse for outfits she was finding in the store.  
  
After several hours of shopping she had managed to select several articles of clothing that were semi-decent and could probably be manipulated into something nicer. She had also managed to convince Daniel that she was a woman who enjoyed buying ugly outfits and turning them into something better...a task which had taken the complete time that they had been in the store and left her very weary of his all too eager to please attitude. Not that she could complain about it, after all, he was her savior and the one that was spending his money on her when he didn't have to.  
  
Once they were finally back to his apartment Jane locked herself inside the guest room and set to work on the clothing. It wasn't as easy a task as she had thought it would be. Apparently, whoever she really was, she was no seamstress. After several fruitless hours of struggling with the almost horrible clothing, she went back out to the living room and joined Daniel on the couch. He was watching some show that didn't really interest her, but she pretended to be interested in it anyway.  
  
Before she knew it she was drifting asleep, whatever he was watching was too boring and she was still so tired from the night before, so she just leaned her head back on the couch and let herself fall asleep. Somewhere toward the middle of the night she woke to find herself curled up comfortably next to Daniel with a blanket thrown over her. Before she drifted back to sleep she allowed herself the fleeting thought that she hoped that she would stay friends with this too nice guy even after she remembered who she was.  
  
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"I've had enough of this crap! Why the hell should I have to put up with him?!"  
  
"How about because he's your boss and he's not wrong and you know it."  
  
"Hey Jake, are you on my side or what? That's some way to treat your partner."  
  
"I'll treat you better when you calm down, shut up, and get some sense into your head. Anyway, we've got a crime scene to get to. So stop it with the hissy-fit."  
  
Sergeant McGrath stood up from his desk and grabbed his gun, slipping it into its holster before leaving the office, not waiting for his hotheaded younger partner to follow. He was getting too old to be dealing with these young hotshots. It might be a little hypocritical of him, considering he used to be one but that had stopped a year after he'd made detective. After all, it's one thing to know you're good, but it's better just to prove it.   
  
"Hey, what's up with you today? Someone put your panties in a twist?"  
  
"Alex, shove a sock in it. Preferably one of those smelly things you never wash."  
  
"Hey, that's not fair. You know my mother has a hard time getting my clothing clean."  
  
Jake just stared at his partner, not quite sure if Alex was joking or not. He really hoped it was a joke, after all, the kid may still have been young but everyone should know how to do their own laundry by the time they're in their twenties. He wasn't going to ask if it was a joke though. Jake knew that the kid already saw him as an 'old timer' and if he was joking he didn't want to ask and make himself look even more out of touch with what he referred to as 'the youth.'  
  
"Let's just get to that crime scene alright? And no talking on the way."  
  
"Hey come on Jake, that's hardly fair."  
  
Damn it, this was going to be a long day. They'd only been on the clock for an hour and already he wanted to shoot the kid. Alex did, mercifully, have enough sense to keep his mouth shut on the way to the scene, but once they got there he would shut up. He started in with his 'brilliant' deductions of what had happened. Well, it was obvious to everyone there, including the homeless person watching them from across the street, that Alex was just trying to make himself up to be the best there, but so far he hadn't said one word that Jake would classify as intelligent. Maybe he was becoming one of those 'old timers.' He never would have found Alex so annoying before.  
  
"Listen Alex, why don't you go inside and question the witnesses. I'll stay out here and process the crime scene."  
  
"Sure thing, see ya later partner."  
  
Jake watched the younger man run off and allowed himself one silent yell of glee that the idiot hadn't realized it was just a way to get some time away from him.   
  
"Sergeant McGrath! A word with you please? Can you tell our audience just what's going on here? Is this another attack by the serial killer? Sergeant McGrath?"  
  
Jake turned around and fixed the reporter behind him with the stare he knew would scare the young woman into backing off. It didn't work this time; she just flashed him with one of those cheeky little grins he hated. He'd have a word to say to her later, trying to take advantage of him like this while at work, it was inexcusable. Just because she was his daughter didn't mean he was going to give her any privileged information.  
  
"Now miss, you know I can't tell you that. Please wait on the other side of the crime tape like the rest of the civilian population has to."  
  
With the rest of the reporters under control as well Jake could finally turn to his job. He liked his job. Sure, there were lots of aspects that were really ugly and unpleasant, like the scene in front of him, but seeing these heinous things were worth it when he caught the creeps behind it. The young girl who had been attacked this time hadn't gotten away severely damaged; she had been completely mangled and left to bleed to death. The first person to find her this morning had been one of the young bell boys when he took the garbage out to the dumpster. A few hours later and the place was swarming with people. The onlookers were something that always got him mad. These people had nothing better to do with their day then stand around a crime scene and try to catch glimpses of the blood and the mess. They disgusted him.   
  
Well, once the lab I.D.ed this woman then he'd take Alex over and make him tell the family. It was time the kid stopped thinking of this as some soft of game where his only job was to show off. The family of this young girl didn't care if he got awards for being a great detective, they only cared that their daughter was dead. At least they finally had a witness to the man that would be able to testify if they ever caught him. Of course, her having amnesia was probably going to be a problem, but that was something for the jury and courts to decide, not him. His job was to catch em and make sure they didn't hurt anyone else. And he was damn sure going to do it. He could imagine how the families of the victims felt, hell, his own daughter was in the same age group as all of the victims, and he'd personally track down and kill anyone who harmed his little girl. He just hoped none of the people in any of the victims' families had violent tendencies.   
  
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Jane self-consciously straightened out her outfit, which didn't help much, and walked up the steps to the building. The detectives who had questioned her a week ago after her attack had wanted her to come in this morning. She wasn't entirely sure why they wanted her in, probably for more questions, or maybe to look at a mug shot or something, but she didn't think that she could really help them. She hadn't really seen the man who had been after her, at least not up close. She might be able to vaguely recognize him but he had been completely in shadows when he had run past the hotel doors and she couldn't be too sure of anything about him.  
  
As soon as she walked through the doors she was directed down a hall and into a room with a series of offices. She was hailed immediately by an older gentleman she recognized as a detective Mc-something. He walked over to meet her, looking as professional as he possibly could in his buttoned up sports coat and his salt and pepper colored hair brushed neatly in place. She thought he ought to smile at her but apparently he was the 'all business' type.  
  
"Miss...? I take it you still don't know who you are?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. I still don't remember anything."  
  
"You know, maybe we can help you with that...take your fingerprints...see if you're in the database anywhere? My partner seems to think he knows you from somewhere, but a classy lady like yourself? I doubt it."  
  
She gave him a grateful smile and followed him down another hall. It wasn't that living with Daniel was terrible...it's just that as time went by it became more and more of a strain for the both of them. He kept insisting she'd remember and he'd even started hinting on her going to therapy but she couldn't let him pay for that. She was going to owe him so much as it was and she was getting a little tired of feeling like she was taking advantage of him.  
  
"Now, the reason that I called you down here today was to id some people we caught the other night. We think one of them might just be our serial killer and you're the only one well enough to come down here and do this for us...."  
  
Jane was shocked. She knew that there was a chance that this would happen but she honestly hadn't believed that they would catch the guy until after she had gotten her memory back...of course, she'd also thought that she would have her memory back by now so things weren't looking up for her in either aspect. Well, she probably wouldn't be able to I.D. him anyway, so until she knew there wasn't any reason to get shook up. So she almost calmly followed the detective into the darkened room and waited for him to pull the curtains. He pulled out a chair for her first and made certain that she was sitting comfortably in it; apparently he thought she was likely to faint, the jerk. He walked over to the curtains as she was still glowering at hi, although he couldn't see it, and then pulled open the curtains. She looked casually over towards the glass and felt her eyes widening even as her mouth dropped open in a startled gasp.  
  
It couldn't be!  
  
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AN: Ok, LOOK! I finally did another chapter. Ok, so it wasn't very much longer than the last one but it was longer. And sure, I didn't get it written as quickly as I said I would...but I only said I would try and I did try...I just didn't manage to get it written very quickly. I DID write it though and it didn't take me several months. Maybe now my muse will come back from vacation and help me out, what do you think? Lol ^_^ Also, if you want to be on my mailing list just send an e-mail to hibari_heza@yahoo.com and tell me which story you want to be alerted for when it's updated. ^_^  
  
  
  
Bunni Girl: LOL Well, that was interesting. ^_^ I'm glad someone wants poor Daniel. For a minute I was  
starting to think he's not as good as I thought he was. Heh. Of course, he's supposed to be one  
of those 'too-good-to-be-true' kind of guys. I like to think those kinds of guys DO exist...and  
maybe if I'm lucky my boyfriend right now is one of them...he seems it. ^_^ And no, I didn't  
base Daniel on him...believe me, they're nothing alike. hehe  
  
Bulma: Well, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. ^_^ You know how it is when you get new  
toys and you just can't put them down. Well, I've had things like that this summer...got my first  
real serious boyfriend who I love. ^_^ And, a few new games for the comp which take up time.  
Heh. But I am trying. ^_^  
  
Veggie-Trunks: lol ^_^ Thanks. I try to come up with interesting ideas. I know what you mean. I've  
actually had plenty of time on my hands..since I graduated high school this last summer  
and I'm taking a semester off from school in an attempt to find a job and get myself set up  
for moving away to college...unfortunately...none of my plans are coming together just  
right...but I figure writing has always been something I can use to take my mind off things,  
so here I go again. ^_^ 


	6. To Romance or?

**One Stormy Day**

**Chapter Six**

**To Romance or?**

She leaned back against the railing in a futile attempt to get comfortable. It wasn't where she was sitting that left her so disturbed, it was simply that it had been an unsettling day and she wasn't quite sure yet what to make of it.

The day had started out inauspiciously enough with her scheduled appearance at the courthouse. It hadn't taken the police very long after her startled testimony to gather up a pile of evidence against the man, linking him to all of the murders that had taken place in the last seven months. The fact that she was the only witness didn't make her feel very good about publicly accusing the man who had murdered twelve young women and successfully remained hidden. She was just settling in to what would undoubtedly be a long first day when a commotion at the doors had stopped the proceedings cold.

She hadn't recognized the man who had stormed into the courtroom but he had stalked straight over to her, yanked her up from her chair, tossed her over his shoulder and walked just as stormily out of the courtroom. Needless to say it had caused quite a commotion.

She pressed her back more squarely against the railing, enjoying the solid strength it gave her after a day that had left her feeling as if she was sinking through quicksand. After leaving the courthouse the man, Vegeta, shoved his way through the reporters and news crews and carried her for several miles, never telling her who he was or where he was taking her. He only shouted brisk orders at her to stop 'squirming' as she kicked and flailed about in a vain attempt to get away from the man. She hadn't given up however, not until he had walked her through some gates, across a compound, into a building, and tossed her roughly onto a couch. The shocked expressions on the faces of the people gathered in the room lasted only a moment before they all converged on her with hugs and kisses.

It had all been a bit too much for her to take. She hadn't a clue who any of the people were. And when a ditzy blond woman had tearfully hugged her she had felt her self-control crack. She jumped away from all of them, backed herself into a corner of the room and demanded to know who they all were. Once they realized that she didn't remember them, the blond woman, her mother, had broken down into quiet hysterics on the couch that she had just evacuated. It had taken several hours for her to tell her story, and to be reintroduced to each of her friends and family. The dark man, Vegeta, had merely watched the proceedings for several minutes, long enough to find out about her memory, and then had swiftly left the room. That was fine since he seemed to make everyone nervous. Except for the man who called himself Goku, and her mother, who seemed to be too out of it to be nervous of anyone.

After a long drawn out day with her family attempting to jump start her memory she had finally asked to be shown to her room and had locked herself in, refusing to come out until she had gotten the shakes out of her system. That had been five hours ago, and except for a quick call to Daniel to let him know what was going on, she had been sitting on her bedroom porch, trying to catch even the tiniest glimpse of a memory of her life here. It was approaching midnight and she thought she should probably go to bed. Tomorrow she would have to straighten out the mess Vegeta had made when he'd pulled her out of the trial proceedings. She stood up slowly, stretching her arms up above her head as she tried to get the kinks out of her neck muscles. She slowly lowered her arms when she caught sight of his dark form, leaning against the wall between his door and hers, staring directly at her.

No one had yet explained Vegeta's position in the household. He wasn't related to her, she could tell that much, and he certainly wasn't her husband, unless they were estranged. Her breath caught in her throat as he slowly walked over to her.

"You say you remember nothing woman?"

He stopped frighteningly close to her. She would have taken a step back, but the railing was already pressing against her back, there was nowhere to go.

"That's right…I don't."

There was barely enough moonlight to see his expression but something told her he was struggling with some decision, and he didn't like where it was heading. She thought she saw something flash through his eyes but it was gone before she could identify it. The silence stretched on uncomfortably but he wouldn't release her eyes from his.

"Not even this?"

He said it so softly her brain didn't really register it before he was pulling her against him and kissing her with a brutal savagery. She was stunned for a moment, but the kiss sent fire down her nerves. Just as she began to respond he released her, stepping away and glaring down at her. Then he turned about and walked into his room, slamming the sliding glass door hard enough to shatter the glass. She stared after him, not quite understanding what had happened. Were they lovers? She hadn't gotten that impression but maybe it was a secret affair…

The morning sunlight filtered through the blinds she had forgotten to close the night before and, after several failed attempts, managed to wake the sleeping blue-haired woman. She stretched her hands above her head and sat up, regarding the room around her for several long minutes. Nope. She still didn't remember anything. The room was strewn with the memorabilia that she had sifted through the night before in a vain attempt to remember…something. She wondered if all of those people from yesterday were still downstairs…if she would have to face their happy, expectant faces again. Probably. But there was no sense in hiding in here. Besides, she hadn't eaten any dinner the night before and she was starving.

After she dressed, in her own tasteful clothing, she exited her room and set out for the kitchen. After several minutes of fruitlessly searching she saw the man called Yaumcha walking down the hall toward her.

"Morning Bulma. Did you get lost? Want me to help you?"

His smile was so genuinely friendly and caring that she couldn't help but smile back at him. There was something about being around him that made her feel at ease. Relaxed and peaceful…but somewhere in the very back of her mind she had a little niggling sensation that she ought to be mad at him for something. Well, there was no sense in holding a grudge for something she couldn't even remember.

"I'd like that."

They fell into easy conversation as he led her to the breakfast area. As they came into the room he was turned towards her, almost as if we was leaning to whisper something in her ear. She was laughing until she heard a chair scrape and a door slam at the other end of the room. They both stopped and looked around the room. Everyone from yesterday was sitting in the room watching her…everyone except Vegeta. Her mother came forward and gave her a hug, led her to a seat and then placed a plate full to the brim in front of her.

Everyone returned to their conversations but Vegeta didn't come back in. It seemed they _were _secretly lovers. Had he gotten jealous? He didn't seem the type that would be jealous, but maybe…she wondered how long their relationship had been going on. She'd have to catch him alone and ask him…and maybe apologize…although she wasn't sure what for.

Vegeta walked across the compound and angrily punched in the code to his Gravity Chamber. The door closed behind him and he had the fleeting wish he could have slammed it, just to work out some of his anger. Oh, he was pissed. And he was even more pissed at the fact that he _was _pissed. What did it matter to him if the slut went back to the moron?

Hours later he finally turned the gravity down and exited. It was dark out and the lights were all off in the house. He'd missed lunch and dinner, but that was all right. He was tired of being around those people. The constant exercise had succeeded in taking the edge off of his anger, so he went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

He heard the light patter of small feet behind him and immediately he stiffened. It was _her_. What was she doing down here at this time of night? He supposed that some things never changed.

"I guess you were thinking the same thing?"

He could _almost_ bring himself to admit that he had missed her voice while she was gone…Right now; she was the last person he wanted to see. It had been a mistake last night to give into the temptation, an even bigger mistake to let his anger get the better of him this morning at breakfast.

"Vegeta? I wonder…"

"What do you want woman?"

She stood behind him at the counter, shifting restlessly. It wasn't like her to be so indecisive, probably an effect of her _amnesia._

"I was wondering…wer- are we lovers?"

The question startled him. He turned around to look at her silently. So that is what she had gotten from the kiss. He had been wondering, the memory of it had dogged him all day. He regarded her silently for a moment. It would be so easy to say yes, to take what he wanted from her, at least until her memory came back.

"…no, we weren't."

"Oh." She dropped her eyes from him, apparently embarrassed that she had thought such a thing. But really, was it such an impossible idea? She was certainly attractive enough, and a man would have to be made of stone not to wonder about her in that way.

"We weren't. But…"

He saw her eyes fly to his as he took a step toward her. What was the emotion that flittered through her eyes? He stepped up to her and paused an inch away from her. He dipped his head towards hers, she didn't move away and he took that as an invitation.

"Hey Vegeta! Hey Bulma!"

The lights flew on and Bulma immediately stepped away from him, fixing a thin smile on her face as she looked over at the intruder.

He felt a brief moment of fury before he composed himself. He grabbed his food from where he had placed it on the counter and sauntered from the room. He paused behind Kakarot and caught the woman's eyes, making certain she understood this little interlude was far from over.

She watched him walk from the room, unable to take her eyes off of him. He was cocky as all hell, that was for certain, but for some reason she believed that cockiness was well deserved. She heard a small laugh and turned her eyes to Goku, only to find him trying hard not to bust out laughing.

"What's so funny?" she asked him suspiciously.

"Nothing, just the idea of you and Vegeta flirting is funny. Not that I think there's anything wrong with it." He amended as she leveled a withering glare at him.

"I don't see why my love life should be anyone else's business."

"You're right Bulma. Absolutely. It's your business. I just came down to grab myself a little snack anyway. Do you suppose Vegeta left anything in the fridge?"

The shift of topic didn't fool her for a second. He was definitely interested in her and Vegeta, but why he should care was beyond her. Too tired to continue the conversation she ignored him and headed back upstairs.

Outside the door to her room she paused, watching the shadows move in the light under Vegeta's door. He'd said they weren't lovers, but he'd also made it clear he wouldn't mind changing that. She wasn't married; she'd already ascertained that. No one had said anything to her about having a significant boyfriend…so, why couldn't she?

Another minute of deliberation and she'd made up her mind. She grabbed the handle and turned the knob.

**A/N: Ok, yep, I am leaving it there. Did she go into her room or into Vegeta's? Guess we'll have to wait for the next update to find out. Let me know what you thought. I think that was one of my nicer cliffhangers, don't you think? Remember, if you want to be on my mailing list, either leave a note in a review saying so, or send an e-mail to Put OSD in the title and I'll add you to the list. **

Kiki: Thanks! I'm always glad to hear that I haven't gone all ooc with the characters.

**Ryouka-Chan****: Oh umm…uhh…I suppose this was too long of a wait? I'm sorry. Heh. But, if you do read this, I hope you enjoy the update. And thanks for reviewing.**

**Garowyn****:Lol, what kind of B/V story would it be if they didn't end up together? Thanks for the praise; it's always very appreciated. And yes, I like evil cliffhangers. Unfortunately, the murderer (at least at this point in time) is not in the slightest bit important. **


	7. Question for my readers

**One Stormy Day**

**Question for my readers.**

As you are probably aware, I left the last chapter with a _somewhat_ evil cliffy. Now, there are a couple of options from this point. I can have a lemon or I can decide not to and write around it…or just mercilessly tease you all longer. Anyway, my fiancé and I are having a small debate. He has pretty much challenged me to do a lemon because he doesn't believe that I can do one…I may not be able to with the knowledge that he'll be reading it…cause I'm crazy that way. BUT! I wanted to give my readers a say in this. So either leave me a review or shoot me an e-mail giving me your opinion. If enough people tell me that they want a lemon in this story, then I'll give it a try…at some point. I'm not saying anything about this next chapter. I'm just asking in general.

hibariheza


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